


Snapshots

by GoodJanet



Category: Quantum Leap
Genre: Banter, Camping, Crying, Cunnilingus, Dirty Jokes, Dresses, Drinking, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Hangover, Holding Hands, Hotel Sex, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, One Night Stands, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reflection, Smoking, Stars, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-24
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 02:23:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4417370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodJanet/pseuds/GoodJanet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses into the lives of Sam and Al pre- and post-leap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Love and War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words: Cigar, smoke

“You ever smoke a cigar, Sam?”

Sam shakes his head without looking up from his work.

“Never had much appeal after I saw what they did to my dad.”

“Oh. Sorry, kid. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Sam puts his pencil down and looks up at the soft tone of voice Al was using with him.

“It’s okay, Al. I don’t mind if you want to have a smoke. But I worry about its effects on you too.”

“Habit, I guess.”

Sam smiles.

“With the way you dress and the way you smoke, you always remind me of someone from the mob if the mob ever wore silver and purple suits.”

Al looks momentarily hurt before blow a steady stream of white into the air.

“You’re breaking my heart, kid.”

Sam picks up his pencil again.

“And you’re breaking my concentration.”

Al shrugs before sitting down to do his own work.

“All’s fair…,” he mutters.

He looks up to see Sam smiling broadly at his assignment, and Al figures it’s got nothing to do with equations and formulas.


	2. Blowing It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words: Space, warmth

“Doesn’t it look beautiful up there, Al?”

Al shivers in his sleeping bag and scoots closer to Sam and the fire.

“Beautiful, yes. But I’m freezing my butt off out here.”

“Oh, hush, Al. We’ve got the entirety of space spreading out in front of us and all you can say is that you’re chilly?”

“I can’t even feel my hands.”

Sam rolls his eyes before turning away from the sky and over to his friend.

“Well, come here. Let’s warm you up.”

Sam takes Al’s hands in his own and starts rubbing them together.

“Sam, I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“Very funny. I told you to bring gloves.”

“Can’t you just blow on them?”

“I’d be worried you’d like that too much.”

“Why don’t we huddle in my bag for warmth, and I’ll give you a demonstration?”

“You’re filthy.”

“And you’re blushing.”

Slowly Sam releases his hands and turns back to the sky, and Al wishes he had kept his mouth shut.


	3. Love Drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words: Liquor, family

When Al gets into work before Sam, he immediately knows something is wrong. He turns right back the way he came and back in the direction of the project members’ living quarters. Something must be wrong; he’s sure of it. Al knocks on the door, but it swings right open.

“Sam?”

There are soft cries coming from the bedroom, and Al rushes in.

“Sam, are you alright?”

There’s three different bottles of half drunk liquor on Sam’s nightstand and a pile of tissues on the bed.

“Sam, what—?”

Sam sits up like it pains him.

“It’s the one thing I didn’t change, Al. I went to call him last night, and Mom answered, and—and he, I mean, my dad, well, he just didn’t—”

“Oh, Sam.”

Al drops his things and quickly moves to sit at Sam’s side, holding him close in a tight embrace.

“Al, I thought it’d be different. That I could tell him everything.”

“Shhh, shhh, he knows. He knows, Sam.”

“I feel sick.”

“You drank a lot, kid.”

“It didn’t help.”

“It never does.”

“Al.”

The hurt in his voice cuts through him like a knife.

“Come on. Let’s clean you up and get you back in bed.”


	4. Face to Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words: Reflection, home

Ever since he leaped home, Al is constantly catching Sam looking into reflective surfaces: mirrors, windows, spoons... To anyone who didn’t know better, they’d assume he was either vain or crazy. Al knew better.

“Yes, you’re still plenty good-looking,” Al jokes, waiting for Sam to move away from the car window.

“I look older than I remember.”

“Well, you _were_ gone for a while.”

“But you look the same.”

“Let’s talk inside, okay? It’s late, and you’ve got an appointment with Beeks tomorrow.”

Reluctantly, he follows. Al walks him to his door to make sure he gets inside safely. Sometimes Sam had days where he needed extra reassurance that this place was his, and Al wanted to be there in case that happened.

“Do I feel the same?” Sam asks after a quiet moment.

“Well, I, ah, guess that’s what Beeks will help you figure out.”

“No, I mean, I look different, but do I _feel_ the same?”

Sam grabs Al’s hand and places it firmly against his chest, right over his heart.

“You feel alive.”

Sam smiles wide.

“That means I really am here, then, doesn’t it? If you can feel me, then this isn’t a dream or a leap?”

“This is real. You’re here, and I’m here, and it’s really real.”

Suddenly, Sam leans down to kiss him. His lips catch the corner of Al’s mouth, and he feels like his heart’s been restarted.

“Thank you, Al.”

“Any time, kid.”


	5. Vision in Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words: Dress, sensation

“Hey, Al?”

Al looks up from his lunch tray at the sound of confusion in Sam’s voice.

“What’s up, Sam?”

“You’re probably gonna think I’m crazy, but lately I’ve been getting memories of wearing dresses. And I don’t exactly know why.”

“Oh, well that’s because you leaped into several different women. You had dresses and skirts and earrings and make-up. The whole shebang.”

Al takes a bite of his dessert while he waits for Sam to respond.

“Sometimes, I still feel like I want to wear them. I get this sensation in my brain that’s telling me to do it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Lots of people wear dresses, so why not you?”

“Al, I don’t know the first thing about dress shopping!”

“Well, Beth can help you. She’s good with fashion. She helped Tina buy a whole new wardrobe last summer. You’ll be in good hands.”

A smile breaks out over his face that warms Al’s heart.

“Do you think I’d look good in pink? I’ve got this picture in my head of something pink with a bow.”

“You would look ravishing, kid.”


	6. Ardent Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words: Awkward, voyeur

Somehow Al had been able to drag him to this bar, and Sam was still fuzzy as to how. He sits at a booth in the corner pondering the possibilities when Al approaches him with a woman on each arm.

“Sam, I’d like you to meet Cassandra and Mareen.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

Cassandra sinks down next to him and immediately enters his personal space. Sam looks across the table to see Al in a similar position, only he looked like he was into it.

“You’re kinda cute in an awkward kind of way,” Cassandra whispers in his ear. “Al told me you were nervous, but I promise that we can take it nice and slow.”

Her hand had slowly crept from knee to groin. Sam squirmed.

“I’m flattered,” Sam says. “Really. But—but I don’t think we should be doing this here. Where everyone can see.”

Cassandra pulls away slightly.

“Al? Didn’t you say you two had a room nearby?”

Al pulls his lips and hands away from Mareen to reply.

“Sure. Sam and I have a room for the whole conference. What do you say, kid?”

“Why? So you can watch me?”

Sam deliberately looks at Al. He would swear Al was blushing.

“That would depend on your performance.”

He says it nonchalantly, but Sam knows better. He’s flustered and at least a little hard. It was Al’s turn to squirm.

“That shouldn’t be a problem for me. Though given how much you’ve had to drink, I worry about _your_ performance.”

Al looks at him long and hard, their companions momentarily forgotten.

“You’re on, kid.”


	7. All for You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words: Watching, reconciliation

They don’t talk about it for a while. That strange night in the hotel room they shared…

_Sam kisses his way down Cassandra’s body, and he feels her moan low in her throat. He buries his face in her center, tongue and lips working, listening to her moans mingle with Mareen and Al’s. He hears Al gasp, and suddenly he’s harder than he ever remembers being. He doesn’t pick his head up until he’s sure she’s done coming._

_”I need you,” Sam whines._

_She eagerly spreads her legs, and he has to remind himself not to come._

_He crawls back up the bed to fuck her, and he looks for just a split second at Al and Mareen. Al already had her on all fours, her hips gripped in his hands as he really gave it to her. It was so filthy and wrong, the way he was pounding into her like that, like she didn’t matter. There was something about the way Al looked that made his stomach clench._

_Unable to wait one more second, Sam pushes himself inside Cassandra, and the rest was history…_

“Al, are we okay?”

Al sighs deeply and puts down his paper.

“I know I’d like us to be.”

“Why’d you want me to do it, Al? You could have had them both. I just don’t understand.”

“What’s not to like about watching you slowly lose control of yourself? Watching you come apart like that? How could I pass that up, kid?”

Something clicks into place.

“Me?”

Al blows out a cloud of smoke.

“ _You._ ”


End file.
